I AM WONDERING IF RX-8 WILL BE TO CRAZY TO DRIVE IN MONTREAL'S SNOWY AND COLD WINTERS...I GUESS A GOOD SET OF TIRES,BUT HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY DROVE ONE YET IN ICE AND SNOW CONDITIONS.

 

Well, yeah, most of us who bought RX-8s last year drove them all winter! This forum didn't just start this spring, you know...

You need to do a search to read the prior discussions from last fall - search for "winter tires" and "winter wheels" and you'll find extensive discussions about what tires and wheels we bought. To sum up - the OEM summer performance tires are useless and dangerous in winter conditions. With real winter tires, however, the RX-8 is great in winter. It's very nicely balanced and controllable, and with the DSC and TCS it's simply great.

PLEASE search for winter tire threads in this Canada regional forum, and in the Wheels and Tires forum. After you've read through a bunch of those, then feel free to ask any questions you might have. Those prior threads also discuss vendors in Canada, group buys, etc. Essential reading!

Regards,
Gordon

 

I am new to the forum...anyways thanks for the info.

 

Winter driving in the 8 is much better than I ever thought it would be. I went through a couple of storms in Toronto last year and the car managed perfectly fine...AS LONG AS YOU HAVE WINTER TIRES. After reading a lot postings, I picked up a set of TOYO Garitt HTs, they worked like a charm.

 

picture this, 4 more months to go....

 

Yeap...RX8 will do well with a good set of winter tires. I also drop last winter through snow and ice and very pleased with the handling.

 

The better the tires, the better the driving!

A lot of us Canuks got the good deal that your local Talon tire in Montreal put together - a decent set of 17" alloys (that fit, that's the hard part!) and a set of Toyo winters, with the traction compound; excellent!

Canzoomer got a set of 'Hakkas' and had great results.

The car has ABS, Traction control, 8 airbags, stability control and a limited slip diff! Why would you drive anything else? My old Acura had NONE-OF-THE-ABOVE.

I did some tests on ice, one wheel on road, one on glare ice -
--stopping, dead straight, no swerve at all.
--acceleration, a little slower, the computer sees the wheelspin and the traction control cuts in, but straight.

S

 

I would recomment the GT, with DSC and traction control as well as winter tires.

The Toyo Garrit HT's from Talon are what I used last year here in Ottawa, and I did not have any problems.